Prowling bear killed and identified

June 30, 2011

The black bear that has been pillaging chicken coops in a San Luis Obispo neighborhood near San Luis Obispo High School for the last week is dead. [Tribune]

A federal trapper killed the bear during a late night stake out Tuesday in the San Luis Drive neighborhood after earlier attempts to pepper ball the bear failed to deter the 250 pound animal.

State Fish and Game Department officials confirmed with the Tribune that chicken parts and feathers were found in the digestive system of the 3-year-old black bear leading them to believe they killed the right animal.

While there was some public criticism for the decision to kill the 3-year-old animal rather than tranquilize and relocate it, Fish and Game officials said that in the past the alternative has not proven to be an effective option and the need for public safety outweighed the life of the bear.

The department said they believed the bear’s behavior of marauding near people would likely have escalated into homes in its search for food.

Apparently the Fish and Game employees and many of the posters here had not seen what goes on in mountain communities where activity by black bears occurs. The first choice is not to shoot the animal but to curb it’s behavior. There are many ways to do that. The point is, the educated in black bear activity do try that first before killing the animal. In fact, there was a history/documentary on this very subject on TV not long ago. Bottom line is the local F&G is probably undereducated in this and too lazy to implement any program regarding this very procedure. And apparently the local ‘Federal Trapper’ is short a few classes in wildlife relocation as well.

And to those who speculate relocating does not work, one never knows until you try it. The easy and lazy way out is to just eliminate a life without trying it but pretending you did ion your mind.

Thank you, now I will just worry about the next bear. I’m sure the bear that died spread the word about the easy pickin’s in San Luis Obispo. Try that crap up here in Atrashcadero and see how long you last. There will only be one chicken dead. Then you will be a bear rug next to my stuffed great white and stuffed tiger on the floor of my office. You will die quickly.

I’m not sure that this episode is a “they took the easy way out” scenario; apparently this same bear has been in the neighborhood many times and attacked this particular chicken coop before. It is my understanding that when a wild animal “learns” a behavior, relocating may not eliminate the problem, but instead simply relocate the “problem” in the form of the animal (the bear in this case) into another area where it could possibly seek out a human populated area and resume its learned behavior. With that in mind, I’m not sure that even if the residents at this particular house eliminated their chickens completely that that would stop this particular bear from coming around their house, and the bear could even have gotten so bold as to attempt to enter the house in search of a meal. I’m not sure that relocating the bear to another wildlife area would have worked, but maybe taking him to the Atascadero Zoo would have been a better solution. Then again, it was a “wild” animal; would putting it in a zoo be any more humane?

Why doesn’t law enforcement shoot and kill people who steal food from a house or market? But we shoot bears who live in the great wide open also stealing a meal? I guess those in authority are too damn lazy to capture a bear and transport it to a location that is too far to return to this area. Excuses, excuses, excuses for not using resources available within neighboring counties. This animal did not attack a human.

Shame on you self righteous federal trapper and Fish and Game employees who sanctioned this murder. It was not ‘trapping’ it was murder. Karma bats last.

Yeah Jack….why don’t they….huh? Let’s say for example they transport this happy little creature to a location far far away yet Mr. Bear recognizes the telltale smells of humanity and eats you when you’re hiking through your land of milk and karma?

It would be interesting to learn what really happens to a bear when it is relocated. But no one studies the bear once it has been relocated, unless it starts feeding near towns again. I tend to think that relocation is attractive because it moves the problem to someone else’s backyard.

I’ve seen what a bear can do to shed doors, screen doors and windows. The bear was not after people. Instead it was after anything that smelled good, which includes household pets if they’re handy.

I recently read a report that $500,000 was spent on a project to discourage wildlife from crossing the highway between Santa Margarita and Cuesta pass. You have to admire the goals of the project, but is it worth that amount?

Actually only a dozen since 1980 typoqueen…I respect what you’re saying but I think a bear who’s grown accustomed to the easy pickings of human life needs to be put down and that’s where I’m at with it. Just an opinion! I like Frebergs idea of bear-burgers!!